Germanwings plane crash: 28-year-old co-pilot flew plane deliberately into ground after locking himself in cockpit

France: The co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings plane deliberately slammed the jet into the ground after locking himself in the cockpit.

The horrifying full account of the plane's final 10 minutes were confirmed by Marseilles prosecutor Bryce Robin at a press conference today.

He said the victims would only have known they were about to die in the terrifying seconds before the crash - and the cockpit voice recorder picked up their screams.

He named the co-pilot as 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz and there is no indication of any links to terrorist groups. He had flown with Germanwings for just a few months.

Mr Robin told reporters: "We have managed to get the transcript of the last 30 minutes.

"In the first 20 minutes the pilots talk in a normal fashion being courteous with each other like two normal pilots during a flight.

"Then we hear the command asking the co-pilot to take over and we hear the sound of a chair being pushed back and a door closing. So we assume that he went to the loo or something.

"So the co-pilot at that moment is on his own in charge of the plane and it's while hes alone... that he uses the flight monitoring system which starts the descent of the aeroplane.

"This action... can only be done voluntarily.

"We hear several cries of the pilot asking to access [the cockpit]. He identifies himself on the intercom system but there's no answer from the co-pilot.

"He then knocks on the door to ask for it to be opened and he has no response from the co-pilot.

"We hear at that moment breathing and we hear this breathing from inside the cockpit, and we hear this breathing until the moment of impact so we conclude the pilot is alive at this point.

"The tower then ask them to do a distress signal but again there is no response from the cockpit so the aeroplane becomes a priority for a forced landing.

"Other planes try to contact this Airbus and no answer is forthcoming.

"There are alarm systems which indicate to all those on board the proximity of the ground and then we hear noises of the door trying to be broken into.

"This is the cockpit door, which according to international measures is reinforced.

"So these alarms go off on the plane which are to indicate the proximity of the ground and just before the final impact we hear the sound of the first impact.

"It's believed that the plane may have glided or hit initially before the final impact.

"There is no distress signal, no mayday signal received by the control tower.

"No distress signal has been received and no answer was received despite the numerous calls from the tower.

"The interpretation on this day, and I'm talking today 48 hours after the crash... is the most probable interpretation is that the co-pilot due to a voluntary abstention - a voluntary abstention - refused to open the cabin door to the pilot.

"He refused to open the cockpit door and [cancel] the button which starts the descent procedure.

"I remind you that in the last eight minutes this aeroplane went from 12,000m to 2,000m."

He added: "It's normal breathing. He didn't say a single word after the pilot left the cockpit. Apparently it's impossible to override the system."

He added: "He had no reason to do this.

"On the recording you literally hear the screams only on the last moments and nothing else.

"The co pilot had only been working a few months and had a few 100 hours on this aeroplane.

"At this stage nothing indicates a terrorist attack. Obviously we will see how this investigation progresses.

"When you suicide you normally do it by yourself. When you have 150 people with you, you wouldn't normally call it suicide. That's why I'm not using this word."

The co-pilot was previously named by a flying club he apparently belonged to in the Westerwald region of Germany.

The club posted an image of a black ribbon with the flight number, 4U9525, on its website.

A message added: "With great sadness, the members of LSC Westerwald heard yesterday about the crash of Germanwings flight 4U9525.

"With horror we recognise that among the dead is a long-standing member of the association.

"Andreas died as a first officer on the tragic flight."

Mr Robin told the press conference the victims' families had been told about their loved ones' horrifying last moments this morning.

The co-pilot's family has been flown to a relatives' area near the crash site but is being kept separate from the families of the victims.